the Wedding Reunion
by Gilmoremore
Summary: An adult Jess is going to be the best man at his uncle's wedding to Lorelai. That would be fine, if Rory wasn't Lorelai's maid of honor. And that would be fine, too, if he hadn't been hung up on her since he was eighteen. Literati.
1. Chapter 1

Jess walked by the same little blue envelope every day, simultaneously hoping it would melt into the table and it would rise up and smack some sense into him. Unfortunately, it did neither; it stayed stationary on his modest kitchen table, opened and read so many times that the once crisp corners had become soft and rounded.

He knew what the little card inside said. He could recite it from memory he had read it so many times:

_Lorelai Victoria Gilmore & Lucas William Danes  
>invite you to join them in the<br>celebration of their wedding  
>on June 3, 2012 at the Gilmore<br>home at 37 Maple Street  
>in Stars Hollow, CT.<em>

It went on to list other details that he imagined people probably needed to know (the time, the menu choices, that there was a reception afterward) and a few things he imagined Lorelai's mother had insisted she include (the very specific wedding colors – they were not _blue _and _white_, they were _denim _and _ghost white)_.

Jess couldn't care less about what footwear would be appropriate for the yard (Emily had included a description that stated the yard was unpaved but they would have mats down on selected areas) but he did very much care about the announced wedding party:

_Best Man: Jess Mariano  
>Groomsmen: Caesar Alvarado, Gary "TJ" DeLuise, Michel Gerard<br>Maid of Honor: Rory Gilmore  
>Bridesmaids: Sookie St. James, April Nardini, Lane Kim<br>Flower Girl: Martha Belleville  
>Ring Bearer: Benjamin Belleville<br>Ushers: Davey Belleville, Kirk Gleason_

It was right there_. _Rory Gilmore. _Rory_. Jess had agreed months ago to be Luke's best man, but he had forgotten about it until he had received this little innocent looking envelope in the mail a few weeks ago. With the reminder of this responsibility he had agreed to came another, more jarring realization: Rory was going to be there. Of course she was. He wasn't quite sure how his mind hadn't registered that the _daughter of the bride_ was going to be in attendance.

Not only that, but he'd probably be the one walking her down the aisle. That's how it worked, right? Jess wasn't really sure. He had walked his mother down the aisle at her wedding and the only other wedding he had ever attended was Tony and Miranda's wedding and there hadn't been an aisle at all… just a _lot _of vodka and a Vegas chapel.

But now there was going to be an aisle and there was going to be a ceremony and a reception and a lot of time spent around the wedding party… which, of course, included Rory.

Jess sighed, pulling his cellphone from the pocket of his jeans. He flipped the wedding invitation over, looking for the house number of the soon to be Gilmore-Danes household. It rang twice before a breathless Lorelai answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, this is Jess," he pulled a wooden chair out and sat down, propping his sneakers up on the table. "Is Luke there?"

"He's around here somewhere. While I've got you, Jess – chicken or beef?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you want the chicken dish or the beef at the wedding? I'd tell you which one is better but Sookie is catering so everything will of course be equally delicious. And, hey, you never RSVP'd! Are we saving a seat for your plus one or what? I have you sitting with the young folks right now – Lane and Rory and Paris – so you guys can discuss Breaking Bad and whose real life meth lab is the most successful or, you know, _whatever _you kids are into these days."

"I'm actually leaning toward the heroin scene, thanks," Jess picked at a fraying spot on his jeans. "No, I don't need a plus one. Just gonna be me. How's the search going?"

"Excellent," Lorelai confirmed. He could hear someone in the background. "Here he is."

"Jess?" Luke's voiced filled Jess' ear. "What's up?"

"Just thought I'd call and, uhh… make sure the wedding is still going on," he sighed, rubbing his temple with his free hand. Why had he called? This was embarrassing. "Or something."

There was a pause and then Lorelai's voice in the background grew fainter until he could no longer hear it. Luke's voice was low and serious when he spoke again. "She's gotta be here, Jess."

"Well, yeah, you're marrying her. I think the law says she has to be present at the ceremony," Jess joked.

"You know who I'm talking about, you little snot," Luke's voice was warm with affection for his nephew. "She's gonna be there. Look, you don't have to see her until the ceremony and then you can leave right after if you want."

"What about the rehearsal dinner?" Jess said hesitantly. He wasn't sure how he felt having Luke so easily see through him.

"I'll say you're busy doing some best man official business or something if you want. No big deal, Jess. Whatever will get you here."

Jess couldn't think of anything to say for a moment. "That's – thanks," he said finally. "Sounds like a good plan. Uhhm. So, I still need to buy you a wedding present. What do you guys want?"

"Lorelai! Jess wants to know what we want for a wedding present!" Luke hollered, completely failing at muffling the phone and basically shouting into his nephew's ear. Lorelai answered, though Jess couldn't tell what she said. "She said you should get us a pony."

"Just one? I wouldn't expect you guys to share."

"We'll take a ride together. It'll be romantic."

"Not to mention probably lethal. I think those things have a weight limit and two fully-grown adults probably break it," Jess fiddled with the envelope on the table, flipping it over repeatedly. "Anyway, I'll let you go. I've got some stuff to do. Shopping for dress shoes and stuff."

"Right, right. Well, uhh, we got your suit, did I tell you that? Got a deal and ordered all the wedding party clothes at once. You didn't return my calls with your measurements, so I had to just kind of estimate, but that's all taken care of."

"Thanks, Luke," Jess imagined himself squeezing into a suit that would only fit his teenage self. "I'll see you in a few days."

"See ya, kid."

Jess kept the phone cradled in his hand for several minutes after his uncle hung up. He guessed this was really happening, then. Thankfully he'd only have to make an appearance at the ceremony and then he could split. He could do that. He could. He'd have to, if he wanted to make his uncle happy. And God knew he wanted to, after all Luke had done for him.

He could do this.


	2. Chapter 2

Jess spent the entire three and a half hour drive fighting the urge to turn around and go home. He felt like he had the potential to become a hermit and it was definitely in an achievable range, but Luke would probably murder him if he didn't show up. Maybe not murder, but he'd do that thing where his voice got low and hard and he sounded all disappointed and father-like. God, Jess hated that.

His phone rang on the passenger seat and a few lines from a Hives song spilled out before he answered. "Hey, Luke," he cradled the phone between his neck and shoulder as he drove, passing a particularly slow and beat up farm truck. "Get that thing off the highway."

"You harassing the other drivers?"

"They're harassing me with their inability to go faster than forty-five, actually," Jess gave the driver an irritated look as he passed, but felt kind of bad when he saw the guy looked like he had at one point hung out with Abraham Lincoln. "I'm not dead, if that's what you're calling for."

"Just wondering if you'd be in town by dinner. The Gilmores are hungry and you know how Lorelai gets when she hasn't been fed every hour."

"I left a little late because the pony was acting up."

"Uhh… pony?"

Jess laughed under his breath. "The wedding pony. Your present. Remember? I asked you what Lorelai wanted for her wedding present and you said-"

"A pony. Right, yeah. So, dinner?"

"I'll be there in about twelve minutes. Don't quote me on that. I've been getting behind a lot of slow farming trucks whose owners probably sat behind Jesus himself in school."

Luke grunted. "Don't knock us old truck drivers, kid. See ya in a little bit. We're eating at the diner, so you can just meet us there if you want."

"Sounds good. Start a burger for me, would you?"

"Will do. Bye."

Jess hung up his phone and tossed it into the seat next to him. Great, eating at Luke's. He imagined that the entire clan would be there and Luke's was located at a central hub in Stars Hollow, which meant he'd probably encounter half the town's population on the walk from his car to the front door.

"Yes, hello, nice to see you – now get out of the road," he found himself muttering through a forced smile about ten minutes later, impatiently waiting for a large procession of people to cross the road. Did they have some kind of town event _every_ damn day in this town?

He finally settled on parking a few blocks down and opted to walk to Luke's. Who knew how long he'd be waiting for the roads to clear sufficiently and anyway, he didn't want to be later than he already was.

Luke's looked the same, except maybe it had a new coat of paint on the outside. Jess wasn't sure. Taylor Doose was still around, apparently, as he was instructing a stock boy how to properly sweep the sidewalk in front of his store. He stopped as he saw Jess, but neglected to say anything.

"Hello, Mr. Doose," Jess smiled a little bit larger than he probably should and waved like he was a Girl Scout trying to sell cookies. "Nice to see you again."

"Yes, well... Nice to see you too," Taylor said politely, but he clearly did not mean it. He was probably still hung up from Jess' teenage hijinks.

Jess laughed a little, opening the door to Luke's. He was feeling a little overconfident from his encounter with Doose, but that was quickly shot down as he was suddenly simultaneously looked at by ever occupant in the diner.

"Hey," he said, his low voice only slightly awkward sounding as he gave a half-hearted wave in the general direction of… well, everyone. He didn't get a chance to make eye contact with anyone nor recognize all the faces in the place, because within two seconds of stepping inside he was engulfed by a familiar plaid-clad figure.

"Glad you could make it," Luke said, releasing his bear-hug grip and looking slightly embarrassed by this show of affection. He adjusted his cap, smiling as he gestured over to an area where he had pulled together a few tables. "Here, got your burger waiting. I'm trying a new seasoning and I thought you could be my guinea pig, so let me know if you break out in deadly hives or you feel your throat closing."

"Will do," Jess confirmed, quickly assessing who was all part of this prestigious pulled together group in the corner of the diner. Lorelai, of course. Sookie and Jackson were there with their children, who were currently smearing mini corn dogs in a plethora of sauces.

That was it.

_Rory wasn't there. _

"Looking for somebody?" Lorelai offered, raising a knowing dark eyebrow as she pulled out one of the chairs next to her, patting the seat and offering it to him. Jess took it, rolling up the sleeves of his dark plum shirt.

"Yeah, actually," he said, very focused on watching Luke go into the kitchen and return with a delicious looking burger. Once it was in front of him, he was determined to create a mini art work on his hamburger with the ketchup bottle and avoid Lorelai's eyes. "Where are, uhh, the elder Gilmores?"

"Ha!" Lorelai gave a giant, fake laugh and playfully hit him on the shoulder. "You're so innocent and cute. Luke, Jess thinks I invited my parents!"

"Oh, boy," Luke said, snorting as he took the other seat next to Lorelai. "They're invited to the rehearsal dinner tomorrow and, you know, of course the actual thing, but… not anything else."

"I think everyone is really grateful for that," Sookie mentioned, pulling an array of garnishes out of a ziplock baggie she had been apparently storing in her purse. No one seemed surprised as she began to dress up her own burger with some fancy looking ingredients, so Jess decided to ignore it and dig in on his own burger. "Your mother just makes me so nervous!"

"I think my mother makes everyone nervous. She would even crush Judge Judy in a heartbeat," Lorelai admitted rather cheerfully, popping a French fry into her mouth. "Anyway, ah, Jess? How was your drive?"

"It was good," he mumbled through a mouthful of burger. He swallowed forcefully, hurting his throat a little bit. "Long. Boring."

"Sounds like those movies Jackson and I watched the other night," Sookie said, giggling at Jackson's immediate offended reaction. He balked as he wiped the mustard off of his youngest's forehead.

"_The Lord of the Rings_ is _not _boring!"

"It's a lot of walking, honey," Sookie said, looking apologetic as she, in turn, wiped a smear of mustard off of Jackson's own face. "You have mustard in your hair. How did you even-"

All three of the Belleville kids laughed and suddenly everyone at the table knew _exactly _how the mustard had wound up in Jackson's hair. "I'll be right back," he muttered, standing up. "I'm going to go wash it out in the-"

"Rory's in the bathroom," Lorelai said, suddenly remembering the whereabouts of her daughter. Jackson sat down and put a napkin to his head in an attempt to mop up some of the mustard while he waited for a vacant bathroom. "Smothering her feet in Neosporin and covering them with Hello Kitty Band-Aids."

"She's still trying to… do whatever she's doing with those shoes?" Luke asked, motioning vaguely with his fork between fries. He looked slightly out of his element. "Breaking them in?"

"Yeah," Lorelai answered, looking toward Jess. He dropped his eyes to his plate, scooting a fry around in ketchup. "Rory's got some killer shoes for the wedding but they're a little too small, so she's been walking around town all day in an attempt to stretch them out."

"Brave girl," Sookie commented. "She's not still wearing them, right?"

"No, no, thank God," Lorelai answered, snorting. "I've been hearing her whine all day long and finally convinced her to change into her sneakers. Plus, she's wearing shorts because _duh _it's summer, so I thought once the sun went down we'd get a little too _Pretty Woman_."

"Good call," Luke said, the gruff fatherly tone appearing in his voice again.

"Finally," Jackson exclaimed suddenly, standing and making an impressively fast beeline toward the bathroom door.

The hair on the back of Jess' neck prickled.

* * *

><p>Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed so far!<p>

I've never written a Gilmore Girls fic before (I actually just started watching Gilmore Girls when they put it on Netflix but I am addicted) so I'd love to make sure you think everyone is in character and believable. Let me know!


	3. Chapter 3

Jess was seated facing away from the bathroom, but he knew Rory was there. He could feel her blue eyes on him and soon enough she sat down in the chair immediately to his left. "Sorry," she said as she bumped his knee.

"It's alright," he answered, automatically making eye contact with her briefly and giving her a polite nod in acknowledgement. Her blue eyes were as piercing as ever, her mouth looking as soft as ever, too. He dropped his eyes, focusing his eyes on the tile beneath the table. He could see her worn black Chuck Taylors partially covering a bunch of pink and white bandages.

"Mom, my feet are-"

"Killing you? Honey, I know, but you were the one that said you were a size seven and-"

The small talk continued. Jess didn't feel the need to contribute very much, besides a nod of agreement every once in a while or answering Luke when he asked him what kind of pie he wanted for dessert after they had all finished their meals. He felt out of place and judged, just like he had every other time he had come back to Stars Hollow.

"Look at us," Lorelai said suddenly, wrapping an arm around Jess' shoulders and squeezing. He still wasn't sure if she liked him or not and if she was trying to make him feel welcome or if she was trying to crack his shoulders out of place. "We're boring Jess!"

"I'm not bored," he insisted. "I'm just tired from, uh, the drive. Didn't sleep much-"

"No, no, she's right. We haven't seen you in a few years and we're not even asking you how things are going," Luke agreed, scooping up some left over peach pie filling and popping it into his mouth. "How are things in the city?"

"You're in Philadelphia, right?" Jackson asked, jabbing a whipped cream covered fork in Jess' direction. "They have a wonderful farmer's market there. I went once and bought the best pomegranates. Which is weird, right? Pomegranates in Philly, who would have thought? Anyway, I bought a bunch of them and Sookie made us the best stew – what was it called, again?"

Sookie, who had smuggled in her own fancy tart dessert in her evidently bottomless bag, thought about it for a moment. "Oh! It was fesenjān, a Persian-" Lorelai cleared her throat suddenly, looking meaningfully toward Jess. Sookie quickly shook her head slightly, shrugging at the same time. "Just a Persian stew, no big deal. Anyway, you're still in Philadelphia? Jess?"

"Still Philly," he confirmed.

"When are you publishing your next book?" Luke asked. "I don't read many books but I read that one and it was real good. I gave a copy to the library and they just loved it. Put a giant poster in the window saying a Stars Hollow resident was a published author. Got a kick out of it."

Rory smiled and nudged Jess' elbow, making him grin. "I asked for the poster when they were done with it. It's on my ceiling. You can have it if you need an ego boost."

He appreciated the fact that she was not nearly as awkward feeling as he was. At least she was talking to him, acting normal. Or maybe… maybe she _was_ normal. Maybe she didn't care about their past anymore. Maybe she just didn't care about him at all. Luke hadn't said anything about her dating anyone, but Jess wouldn't be surprised if she was dating some guy and didn't care at all that they hadn't seen each other in years. Maybe he was just another person to tolerate and make small talk with until he left town again.

"_So?_" Rory pressed, scraping up the last bit of her apple pie. "Next book?"

"I'm not really sure," Jess admitted. "I've been doing a lot of writing lately but it's not really for me. I've got a guest slot on a website that publishes reviews of books and movies and TV shows and I've submitted some things to Cracked. I only work part-time at the publishing house now because I'm trying to nail down my own book publishing schedule. The goal is somewhere between James Patterson and George R.R. Martin."

"So," Rory said with a laugh. "Somewhere between one book every ten days and every ten years?"

"Exactly," he said, feeling his mouth pull into another grin.

"I think that's a good goal."

He was still grinning as he nodded slightly in agreement. "Originally I was going to go at a _"... And Ladies of the Club" _pace but I thought anyone who liked the first book might not stick around – or be alive – when that finally happened."

"Remind me to get you to sign my copy while you're in town," Rory said. Luke stood, collecting the empty dessert plates from the table's occupants and heading back toward the counter to deposit them in the bus tub.

"Try and stop me from inflating my ego," Jess challenged, standing as the rest of the table did so. He picked up the empty cups from around the table, stacking them as he had done so many times before when he had been a teenager.

"So… what now? It's only eight and since I'm not ninety, it's not my bed time," Lorelai said, moving to stand next to her daughter. She put an arm around Rory. "How about a tour, kiddo? Stars Hollow has had a few developments since you last visited. The rental store now has DVDs and I hear someday soon they might even have this new-fangled thing called a Bluray!"

"Really? How mystical sounding! I hope after the Bluray we get indoor plumbing," Rory said, looking mock-disappointed. "Going to the outhouse in the middle of winter was always such a bummer growing up."

"You never really recover once your butt becomes frozen to a toilet seat," Lorelai agreed wistfully while Sookie laughed. "So – town tour, everyone?"

"I think I'll bow out on the tour," Jackson said, trying to retain his composure while his youngest child attempted to climb him. "Somebody clearly needs to be put to bed."

"And I need to assemble ingredients for tomorrow," Sookie said, removing the child from her husband. "I have a strict cooking schedule planned for tomorrow so I can get everything cooked _just _in time for the rehearsal dinner so everything tastes fresh and hot."

Luke awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as Sookie finished her enthusiastic speech. "About the rehearsal dinner - ah, I need Jess to do some stuff for me before the wedding so I don't think he'll make it."

"What kind of stuff? Rounding up strippers and booze?" Lorelai teased.

"Just… last minute stuff that I – I don't have time to do," Luke stumbled through the lie awkwardly, but everybody seemed willing to accept it.

"Oh, well… that's alright, as long as you're at the actual ceremony," Lorelai said, smiling encouragingly. "Not everybody needs to practice walking up and down and standing. I think you'll be fine. I mean, you've practically mastered the walking thing. Real close."

His eyes floated over to Rory. Someone else might have missed the little crease between her brows or the way she pressed her lips together slightly in an effort to remain expressionless, but Jess didn't.

A deep breath was drawn. "Actually, Luke," Jess cleared his throat. "I took care of that stuff already, so…"

"So you'll be there?" Luke raised his eyebrows meaningfully and slightly cocked his head at Rory. She was still nonchalantly looking anywhere but Jess, but the little crease was gone now.

"_Yes_," Jess scowled at his uncle's non-subtle manner. "I'll be there."

"Great!" Lorelai clapped her hands together and she did the thing where she was stepping up to take initiative in a very inn owner-like way. "So, who's in for the tour? Sookie, Jackson, Belleville-spawn?"

"Going home," Sookie confirmed, rounding up her children and ushering them toward the front door of Luke's. "Got of a lot of things to plan and a lot of kids to corral into bed."

Everyone waved goodbye to the Bellevilles as they walked through the front door. "So just the four of us," Lorelai said, helping Luke scoot the tables back into their proper positions. Jess jumped in quickly, helping to pull it the last few feet. "Thanks, Jess."

"No problem," he said, tugging at the collar of his dress shirt. "Hey, Luke, is there any chance you have a spare t-shirt up in your apartment? I don't know why I decided to wear this thing in June but I'm seriously regretting it right now."

"Actually, _you _have some spare t-shirts up there," Luke said, jerking his head toward the stairs. "Didn't manage to collect them all when you moved out. If you can't find them just grab something else."

Jess began unbuttoning his dress shirt as he headed up toward the apartment. "Thank God," he muttered as he closed the door, the cool air on his underarms feeling positively hallelujah-worthy. He had a sleeveless white tank on underneath the dress shirt and peeled that off, too. Jess wanted as few layers on as possible in the summer heat.

After throwing his shirt on his old bed, he crouched by the closet and searched through the boxes in the bottom marked "JESS." A few t-shirts (most black) were surprisingly neatly folded and sitting on top of the various CDs and books that were in the bottom of the box. He settled on a black Oasis shirt and yanked the worn and soft cotton garment over his head.

Someone knocked on the door. He turned and stood, seeing a very familiar silhouette in the door's window. "Hey, uhm, I'm searching for some more Band-Aids."

Jess opened the door. Now that he wasn't in the diner, surrounded by thirty people and various diner-related chatter, it seemed easier to face Rory. Wait, no, he took that back. It was _harder_. Because now when she looked his way with her blue eyes he was absolutely sure she was doing it on purpose and she was definitely looking at _him_, not the people at the table behind him. "Check the first aid kit beneath the kitchen sink."

Rory half-smiled as she moved to Luke's kitchen area. Jess let himself study her as she did so. She limped a little and he could see the little Hello Kitty bandages peeking at him, but besides the limping she looked… well, she looked wonderful and happy.

"What? Do I have mustard on me, too?" Rory asked as she turned around with the first aid kit clutched against her chest, catching Jess staring at her. He definitely did not miss the blush on her cheeks.

"No, I just… you look very American," he let out a laugh, gesturing to her denim shorts and loose red and white striped top. The neckline of the shirt was very flattering and open; Jess could see the curve of her shoulders and _oh God was he staring at her collarbones_? He cleared his throat. "I was thinking about saluting."

"Ha," she said flatly, setting the kit on the kitchen table and sitting down. Rory popped the plastic box open and began to hunt through it. "At least I can pick out weather appropriate clothes."

He tugged at his Oasis shirt. It was a bit tight, to be honest, but that was only because he no longer had his lanky teenager body. "I can, too. It just takes me a second try, that's all."

"Well, good choice," she commented, glancing up at his shirt for a few seconds before going back to the kit. "I don't think Luke has Band-Aids. He has some weird gauze and a lot of empty Band-Aid wrappers but no Band-Aids. Wait – oh, _ew_, that's a used one."

Rory pushed the kit aside with disgust, looking to Jess with a strange expression on her face. "What, do I have mustard on me, too?" he asked.

"No," she said quickly. "You just… I haven't seen you in a while, that's all."

"Yeah, I know. Not since you were last in Philadelphia," Jess said, shrugging as he moved to put the lid back on the kit. He stowed it beneath the sink, knocking over a bottle of vegetable oil in the process.

"Right. Philadelphia," Rory said awkwardly. They were both silent for a good four seconds before she stood, motioning toward the door. "Well, we should probably… go. Back down there, I mean. Tour of the town and whatever."

She moved to the door of the apartment with remarkable speed. Jess bit his lip as he watched her, having a small internal battle before taking long strides to catch her at the door. "Rory, wait," he said. She stopped. She waited. And he had absolutely no idea what he wanted to say to her. "You look – it's nice to see you. Good to know you haven't joined an anti-feminism cult and gotten a bunch of cliché tattoos or whatever."

"I'm saving that stuff for after the ceremony," Rory said, smiling with her hand on the doorknob. She hesitated, before moving to hug him. He was expecting an awkward side-hug, the kind you gave to people at your high school reunion or obscure great-aunts, but… it was nice. She hugged him full on with both arms, tight and warm and he hugged her back automatically, pulling her in closer to his chest and pressing his mouth against her hair lightly. When they broke apart finally, her cheeks were on fire again and she practically ran down the stairs back to the diner, calling over her shoulder. "But, yeah, you too!"

* * *

><p>Thanks to merdarkandtwisty for pointing out that I had mistyped something, eek! I'm always writing "Luke" instead of "Jess" and it's an awkward mistake, lol. If anyone else finds anything wrong or any typos, please let me know!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Jess joined Rory downstairs moments after she made her mad dash back to her mother. "Oh, good, you found them," Luke said, his arm around Lorelai's waist as they waited by the door. "Caesar! You're closing, remember? I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"But not tomorrow night," Caesar said, emerging from the kitchen and wiping his hands on his apron. "Because it's your wedding rehearsal. And not the next day because it's your wedding. I'm gonna be at the wedding, though, because I'm one of the groomsmen."

"Uh, right," Luke said, pulling open the door to the diner. "See you later, Caesar."

They exited and Lorelai snorted, jerking a thumb back toward the interior of the diner. "What is that all about? I do not remember Caesar being that… weird. Or awkward? Was he weird or awkward? Both? Rory?"

"Both," Rory said with a knowing nod, her eyes catching Jess'. "Jess?"

"Ahh, both?" he guessed. They all looked toward Luke.

"He's just excited," he explained as they began to walk down the familiar sidewalk of Stars Hollow. Honestly, not much had changed. The sidewalks were exactly the same, but there were now elaborate vintage planters filled with flowers every few yards. "Caesar wasn't expecting to be asked to be a groomsman."

"Really?" Lorelai asked incredulously. "Doesn't he know you have zero friends to pick from? I mean, you asked T.J. for crying out loud. That guy is-"

"I have _friends_," Luke insisted, scowling at his fiancé. "They just… were – they, you know, I think… _I have friends, Lorelai, don't give me that look._"

They all laughed as they proceeded, but Jess noticed Rory kept hanging back as Luke and Lorelai walked in front, holding hands. "How's Hello Kitty holding up?" he questioned and they both looked down at her sneakers as they walked.

"She's seen better days," Rory said, wincing slightly. "Ones that look less like the flooding elevator scene from _the Shining._ I am never trusting an online store's size chart _again. _I mean, I've been a size seven in shoes since I was fifteen. I am always a size seven. In _every _shoe. Except for those! They must have been assembled by Satan."

"That seems like the only option."

"Hey, you two! Hurry up, we're getting candy," Lorelai called. Jess suddenly noticed that he and Rory had fallen behind and they were a good half block behind Luke and Lorelai. "Do you want a bunch of little lollipops, Rory, or one giant one the size of your face?"

"I'm not really sure how elegant I can look while eating a lollipop the size of my face, so a bunch of little ones, please."

"Jess! Jawbreakers?" Lorelai guessed as they entered the small candy store. It was new and was probably giving Doose's place a run for the money because it had an insane selection. "Caramel apple? Uhhh… cotton candy? Peppermints?"

"Jess likes saltwater taffy," Rory said suddenly. Jess looked at her in surprise as he moved to the extensive taffy section. "I always thought it was kind of gross, so I remembered."

"Most candy is gross," Luke said, looking in disgust at some kind of layered chocolate-cream cheese-hazelnut monster. "Though I have always been interested in the snow-and-syrup method from _Little House on the Prairie_."

Lorelai turned, a gleeful look on her face as she was popping various candies into a little paper sack. "You watched _Little House on the Prairie?_ Oh my God, why did I not know this earlier?"

"I _read _it," Luke said. When everyone gave him a _what the heck _kind of look, he shrugged. "I was in a waiting room once for a very long time. It was either that or count the ceiling panels for the eightieth time."

"You should have counted the ceiling panels," Jess said, moving toward the register with his little white sack full of various flavors of taffy. As Lorelai stood behind him in line, he turned and gently tugged the sack from her grip. As she protested, he put a hand up. "I've got it."

"Hey, I was going to get it," Luke said, his wallet out and his hand poised. Jess reached out and smacked his uncle's hand down.

"I've got it. Shut up and enjoy it," he ordered, handing a twenty to the cashier. "Keep the change."

"Whoa, Luke, I think I'm about to leave you for a younger and richer man," Lorelai teased, taking her now paid for bag of candy from the counter. "Thanks, Jess."

Rory pulled a lollipop from the bag her mother had outstretched. "Yeah, thanks," she said enthusiastically as she popped it into her mouth. The little white stick stuck out, looking like a caricature of a cigarette.

Jess nodded, unwrapping a yellow taffy and eating it as they left the store. He chewed for a few seconds, before making a strange face. "It said this was banana but-"

"A shoe. Yellow is the shoe flavor. See, if you visited Stars Hollow more often, you would have known that," Lorelai said, pointing Jess toward a trash can on the sidewalk. He followed her pointing arm, spitting the strange tasting taffy into the receptacle.

"Or you could have warned me," Jess said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"But where's the fun in that?" Rory asked, smugly smiling with her lollipop still hanging in her mouth. She sat down on one of the benches on the sidewalk, readjusting her Band-Aids. "It's more entertaining this way."

"Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically, pointedly looking at Rory. "Next time just give me a heads up about the synthetic clothing flavors."

"Will do," Lorelai said, then began walking at a remarkably brisk pace. "Come on, everyone, tour's waiting! There's so much to see and so little time because we have to get home before Bill Maher starts."

Luke groaned, reaching for his fiancé's hand in an attempt to slow her down. His attempt was not successful and instead she pulled him along with her. "Lorelai-"

"_Bill Maher_, Luke!"

Rory stood from her spot on the bench, wincing slightly and hopping on one foot for a second. "Mom, wait! I'm operating at thirty percent capacity right now!"

Lorelai grinned over her shoulder and Jess had the feeling the woman had something up her sleeve. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but there's no rest for the wicked! Go at your own pace and we'll see you back at our house. I'll TiVo Bill Maher for you!"

"You're leaving me here?!" Rory squealed, looking irritated as she tried to catch up to her mother. Some pink and white Band-Aids came loose and flopped around halfway out of her shoes as she walked.

"Well, I'm not stopping, so all sources point to yes," Lorelai laughed, waving over her shoulder.

"Jess, make sure she doesn't get murdered," Luke said, looking not at all sad about the fact that he'd have some time alone with his wife-to-be before the wedding. "You can stay at the apartment tonight – the key's in the same spot, kid."

Jess shrugged, waving slightly as Luke and Lorelai continued down the sidewalk. He watched them for a while before turning around and… Rory was gone. "Where-" He spotted her making her way to the gazebo in the center of the plaza and she sat down on the white steps and peeled her shoes off.

"I can't believe my own mother just abandoned me," she said, shaking her head as he approached and sat down next to her.

"She abandoned you in Stars Hollow."

"So?"

"So you're always five feet from someone that adores you," he pointed out, laughing at her pouty face. "I think you'll survive."

"Yeah, but my feet are going to fall off," she whined, tying her shoelaces together and hanging her sneakers on the white railing of the gazebo. "How am I supposed to make it home? Do you think that Kirk still has his bicycle taxi?"

"Kirk had a bicycle taxi?"

"Didn't last very long," she said, smoothing down the edges of her bandages carefully in an attempt to make sure they'd stick on longer. "He didn't go very fast when he actually had people in the back."

Jess tried to imagine Kirk pedaling a bicycle taxi. It was surprisingly easy; the man had done so many jobs over the years there wasn't one that was hard to believe. Rory and Jess sat in silence for a while and watched people walk around the square. Nobody seemed to look their way and for that, he was remarkably grateful.

"So… the Kirk taxi is out," Jess said after a moment, standing and wiping his hands on his jeans. He stuffed his taffy into the back pocket of his pants. "You've got the next best thing, though."

"And what is that?" Rory grumbled, resting her chin in her palms as she looked sullenly out into the square.

Jess crouched in front of her, nodding over his shoulder. "Get on."

"Are you – what? Jess, get up, people are looking-"

"They are not. Nobody has looked over here for the past five minutes," he pointed out, looking over his shoulder at her. "Rory, I have to get you home somehow. It's either watch you hobble all the way there or this."

"No! Why would you-"

"Do you want me to carry you bridal style instead?" he offered impatiently. "Would that be better?"

"Fine. Carry me," Rory grumbled, but seemed amused at something. "Huh. That felt very royal. Is this what it's like to be a monarch? Carry me, sir, at once and with great speed!"

Jess laughed as he braced himself for Rory's weight. She was surprisingly light. Sturdy and of course the weight increase was notable, but as she climbed onto his back he stood with ease, holding her legs at his side. Her arms wound around his neck and he could feel her chin resting on his shoulder.

"With great speed," he repeated. "At once."

"Wait, my shoes!" she hollered suddenly and she pointed at the railing of the gazebo. Her little black Chucks were slung over the railing still. Jess carried her over there and bent down slightly so she could grab them with her hand. "Thank you, Jeeves."

"Not a problem, Lady Gilmore," he began as he began to leave the square. When he reached the road he stopped, suddenly faced with a problem. "Front roads or back roads?"

"Uhm, back roads," Rory said, once again resting her head on his shoulder. "I don't want to stop and talk to anyone."

"A feeling that I definitely share," he said, cutting across the street and ducking down an alleyway.

"I feel less ridiculous now that we're not in public," she admitted, her sneakers swinging against his chest. "And my feet thank you."

"How are you going to survive at the rehearsal dinner tomorrow?" he asked, kicking a large rock as they walked. When he had walked a few feet, he kicked the rock again and sent it shooting forward on their path again. "And the wedding?"

"I thought you could just carry me around all weekend."

"No, tomorrow we are fitting you with a pair of bionic legs."

"I'm okay with being Lindsay Wagner," Rory said thoughtfully, pulling the lollipop from her mouth and twirling the stick between her fingers.

"No, Lindsay Wagner would be okay with being Rory Gilmore." Jess could feel his cheeks heating slightly.

"Oh, you smooth talker, you," Rory said. Her voice was smooth and even and she seemed way more comfortable with the current situation than he did. "I bet you say that to all the girls you give piggy back rides to."

"You see right through me," he said, clearing his throat.

They walked in silence for a while. Well, _Jess _walked in silence. Rory _rode _in silence, her arms still around his neck and her chin still on his shoulder. He was content with that. She was a warm and comfortable solid weight. He wasn't sure how he felt about _this. _It was easy. It was comfortable. But it was a little… _too _comfortable. Was she just good at ignoring their past or did she not care at all? Was she genuinely comfortable because she just… did she not care about him at all?

"Hey, if you get tired let me know and I'll jump down," she said after a few minutes, interrupting his thoughts. They walked down the narrow graveled alleyway, framed by someone's backyard fence on the right and a small pond on the left.

"I'm not going to get tired, Rory, you weigh like four pounds," he rolled his eyes.

"I see you have lost your ability to estimate in your old age," Rory sighed, wrinkling her nose at the algae heavy smell of the water. "What a shame."

"I've also lost my ability to carry people on my back in my old age," Jess said, suddenly veering toward the small pond. "Oh, no, I will have to drop my four pound burden into this disgusting pond."

"Jess!" Rory's grip on him tightened. "If you drop me in this pond I will never speak to you again."

"And if I don't drop you?"

"Then I will continue to speak to you."

"So I'm never letting you go, then?"

Rory awkwardly cleared her throat. "Right."

"I'm going to get so toned, carrying these four pounds around for the rest of my life."

She laughed into his ear and his skin prickled at the sudden warm air expanding onto his neck. "And I thought it was hard to recognize you before. Just imagine once you have a Schwarzenegger-like physique."

"It was hard to recognize me?" he questioned, his eyebrows creasing. "Have you had your eyes checked lately? Because I'm pretty sure I look the same."

"No, you look… I don't know. Nevermind," Rory said, unwrapping a lollipop and offering it to him. "Candy?"

"Yeah. I need something to get rid of the shoe taste," he said, opening his mouth. Rory put it into his mouth for him and he sucked on it for a minute before moving it to the side of his mouth so he could talk. "Say what you were going to say, though. I look different?"

"You looked older," Rory explained. "Not _old_. Just… I mean, you were wearing a dress shirt."

"Also, I'm not eighteen."

She let out a frustrated sigh. "It's not _that. _You just… I don't know. Your hair is longer now, more like when you were a teenager. But you wear dress shirts and you don't look like Jess but you _do _look like Jess but you're _wider _but not in a bad way, just in a weird way because I'm not used to having you have so much… muscle? I don't know. This is weird. I'll stop talking now and just commit myself to finishing my candy, sorry."

Jess laughed, turning his head toward her. She blushed slightly as his dark eyes caught her blue ones, dropping her gaze toward the ground instead. He nudged her head with his forehead. "Keep babbling."

She smiled as he returned his eyes to the road in front of them and rested her cheek against his neck. It felt effortless and comfortable and Jess' heart lurched in his chest and he felt like a nervous teenager trying to maintain his cool façade.


	5. Chapter 5

Jess stood in the upstairs guest room of the Gilmore house, trying to wrangle his tie into behaving. It wasn't working very well and with a frustrated grunt, he ripped the tie off of his neck and threw it onto the bed.

Someone knocked on the closed bedroom door. "You decent?"

"There's been some debate about that," Jess said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and deciding to focus on his dress shoes for now. One of them had a large scuff on the side from where he had accidentally kicked the foot of a table. "But I'm not naked in here."

Luke entered and appraised his nephew's formalwear. "Oh, good. Glad it fits."

"Yeah," Jess agreed, standing and letting his uncle smooth his lapels. "Pretty well, considering I think you based the measurements off of an old t-shirt of mine."

"It was a button-up, actually," Luke finished flattening Jess' jacket and picked the discarded tie up off of the bedspread. "What's going on with your tie?"

"I've got it covered," Jess insisted, snatching the tie from Luke's fingers. He put it around his neck and then leaned over a desk in the guest room, trying to see his reflection in the miniscule mirror someone had placed there. "Is there a mirror somewhere that wasn't made with Polly Pocket in mind?"

"One in the hallway," Luke cocked his head toward the door. "The downstairs bathroom mirror was broken, so I threw it out and haven't gotten around to getting a new one yet."

"What about Lorelai's bathroom?"

"Occupied."

"_Still?_" Jess asked incredulously. The entire wedding party had been getting ready for the ceremony rehearsal in the house, but he would have thought they would be done by now.

"_Still_," Luke said, shrugging. "I don't bother them and I get to keep my head from being bitten off. I've gotta go outside and work on setting up the chairs and stuff, so get your tie fixed and get your butt down there."

Jess nodded and attempted to tie his tie again. It looked uneven and messy and _ugh. _"Don't people usually dress casually for these things and save the formal stuff for the actual thing?"

"Yeah, but most people try on their suit in the store before it's paid for. Lorelai just wants to make sure everything fits so if it doesn't… we can fix it."

"Got it."

"Right," Luke said, opening the door of the bedroom. "See ya downstairs, kid."

Jess followed his uncle out of the bedroom, but as Luke walked down the stairs Jess stood in front of the round mirror in the hallway. How did people even tie ties? Was there some kind of secret to it? He should have just asked Luke to do it. Luke's tie had been perfect looking… but maybe Lorelai had done that.

"Son of a bitch," Jess grumbled under his breath as the tie ended up uneven and messy_ again. _He scowled. Good enough. Maybe nobody would notice.

A door down the hallway creaked open and Jess turned to see Rory's head popping up in the narrow open space. "Oh," she said, looking surprised and a little awkward. "Hey, Jess."

"Hey," he said, buttoning his jacket quickly in an attempt to hide the mess of a tie he was wearing.

"Uhm, is my mom close by?" she questioned, emerging a little bit from Lorelai's bedroom to look around.

"She's outside."

"Grandma?"

"Outside."

"Sookie?"

"I'm gonna save us some time – everyone is outside or running back and forth from the diner or Sookie's or your mom's inn."

"Oh. Okay. Well, I… okay, nevermind."

Rory looked awkward and one of her arms was twisted behind her back as she stood in the doorway, biting her lip as her eyes darted around, desperately trying to find someone else. "Did you… need something?" Jess offered.

"Yeah, but I can wait."

"You'll be waiting for eternity," he assured her. Her awkward pose finally clicked. "Turn around."

"What?"

"Turn around. You need your dress zipped, right?"

"Yeah, but I can just wait-"

"I'm telling you, you're the first human I've seen in hours," he said, stepping toward her. It was a lie, of course, as Luke had been up here five minutes ago, but Jess didn't think anyone else would be coming up the stairs any time soon. "If you wait for someone to come up here, you'll miss the rehearsal. Turn around, Rory."

"Fine," she said, her lips pressing into the half-hearted pout he had seen her subtly do so many times. She turned around and pulled her hair over her shoulder. "You have to close the hook at the top, too."

"Will do," he said. His cool demeanor melted a little as he saw just how far down the zipper went. He could see the small of her back and the clasps of her bra. "You, ah, zipped up your fabric."

"Yeah, I know," Rory sounded exasperated and she began motioning awkwardly with her hands. "I tried zipping it up as far as I could, but it snagged and I didn't want to tear it and…"

"Stop moving, I'm trying to get it out," he ordered, brow furrowing as he tried to gently tug the fabric from the zipper. "My hands are too big for this."

"I would do it but unfortunately I haven't mastered my Reed Richards impression."

"Mr. Fantastic reference?" he asked, laughing slightly.

"I've been trying to expand my intake of media."

"Makes sense."

"Plus we watched the movie a few weeks ago," Rory said, smoothing her hair down as he continued to fiddle with her zipper. "Double date with Jackson and Sookie."

His heart lurched. "Double date?"

"Oh, well – with my mom. I was her date."

"Oh," he said. Could she hear how relieved he sounded? Hopefully not.

"Yep."

Finally, the fabric was free. Jess carefully moved the lining of her dress out of the way before zipping it up equally carefully. "Success, Miss Gilmore," he gave a mock bow as she turned around, smoothing her dress. "Can I be of any more service to you?"

"No, that's quite alright," she smiled and his stomach gave a little flip. He could only give a little nod as he avoided her eyes, ducking out of Lorelai's room. "Wait, Jess-"

He stopped in his tracks, turning with his hands in his pockets. "Yeah?"

"You helped me," she pointed toward his tie and then stepped forward to pull it from his jacket. "I can help you."

"I don't need any help," he was aware that his voice sounded a little sharp, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "I wanted it to look this way. This was planned. It's my new look."

"The ridiculous theme doesn't really do anything for you," Rory smiled, undoing the messy knot and beginning to expertly tie it.

"You know how to tie a tie?" he questioned, mildly impressed.

"I went to a school that had a tie as part as their uniform," she reminded him. "I got pretty good at it after the four hundredth time."

"Oh, that's right," he smiled. "I remember the uniform."

"You don't have to sound so pleased about it," she said, blushing slightly suddenly.

"I just have fond memories of the Chilton uniform. I'm… sorry I didn't make it to your graduation."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Rory said quickly, shrugging as she looped the tie around and straightened it. "It was – it was boring."

"No, it wasn't. You're saying that to try and make me feel better, but you're disappointed I didn't go and that when I called you to congratulate you, I reenacted _When a Stranger Calls_."

"The whole point of _When a Stranger Calls_ is that they don't know who's calling because it's a _stranger_. I knew who it was."

"Yeah?" he questioned as she finished his tie. He looked at himself in the hallway mirror, nodding in appreciation. She had done a great job. "Caller ID?"

"I'm not that fancy. I just… nevermind, it's dumb."

"Say it."

"I could just kind of… tell," Rory bit her lip again, awkwardly wringing her hands. "I could feel it was you, you know? I wanted it to be you."

"Why you would want that, I will never understand," Jess shrugged, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. When he was done, he pointed toward his perfect tie. "Thanks."

"You, too," Rory pressed her lips together again, looking awkwardly around the hallway.

"I'm sorry," Jess let the words tumble from his mouth before he could swallow them. Apologizing wasn't his thing, but for some reason it felt appropriate here. The house was quiet and there wasn't anyone around but the two of them. "For the way I... Expecting you to run away with me, that dinner with that Logan guy, calling you out, just… everything in general."

She was quiet for a little while, suddenly very absorbed with looking at her nail beds. "Yeah, me too. For Philadelphia. And for-"

"Don't even pretend you have anything to apologize for, Rory," he was quiet as he spoke. "That sucked, but it didn't even put a dent on all the things I've done to you. I'm still the ass here."

"You're not an ass. You _were _an ass, but the past-tense is the key."

"Yeah?" he raised a dark eyebrow. "Based on the looks I've been getting for the past day, I think I'm definitely a permanent villain of Stars Hollow."

"Stars Hollow just- they don't know… it's weird-"

"It's okay, I brought it upon myself," he shrugged. "By dating the darling daughter of the town."

"I'm not the darling-" she started to protest, but he put up a hand.

"You are, Rory, and I'm the jackass who left without telling anyone and didn't call or write or even show up at your high school graduation where you were the valedictorian. I've accepted it, but nobody else can seem to get past it. That's why I hate coming back to this place."

"You hate coming back here?" Her voice was small.

"I hate walking down the street and having everyone look at me like I'm Lord Voldemort, yeah."

"Oh," she said, looking down at her shoes for a few seconds before looking back up at him. "I'm… glad you're here, Jess. Not _just _so you can give me piggyback rides around town but also because I did legitimately miss you."

"Yeah?" he asked, trying to not look too pleased about this news.

"Yeah," she confirmed, smiling now. "I mean, you're the one who kicked my butt into gear when I dropped out of Yale. Only a true friend will publicly yell at you about your life choices."

"Just another perk of knowing me," he told her with a small grin, then nodded down the stairs. He offered his arm to her and did a mock bow. "Ready to go, Miss Gilmore?"

"Indeed, Mr. Mariano," Rory took his arm and continued to smile as they descended down the stairs.


	6. Chapter 6

The ceremony rehearsal was unbelievably boring. Jess was starting to regret saying he had taken care of his "best man stuff" but then again, if he had pretended to have things to do he wouldn't have gotten to walk Rory down the aisle. As they walked she chatted to him under her breath, naming off each guest and the most interesting fact about them or doing an impression of the ones she didn't know.

"Yes, hello, I'm Goldie von Moneyburg-"

"Of the Florida Moneyburgs?" Jess asked, trying to fight a smile as they approached the chuppah that Luke had carved especially for this ceremony. Luke was standing there in his own suit, looking like he was just about sweating his way through his suit.

"I _say_, how dare you," Rory hissed under her breath, her fingers tightening on his arm. "The _Florida _Moneyburgs are not related by blood and _we_, the New Jersey Moneyburgs, do not appreciate the insinuation that we are related to that _rabble._"

Jess had to fight the urge to laugh through the entire rehearsal, especially when Lorelai walked down the aisle in what appeared to be a Luke's Diner t-shirt and some jean shorts. Her hand was in an open bag of Lay's and Emily, sitting in the front row, looked utterly horrified as she laid eyes on her daughter's rehearsal attire.

By the time the rehearsal was over, most of the guests were looking very warm. Except for Lorelai, of course, who looked perfectly fine and comfy in her summery clothes. When they got to the practice kiss (which lasted a long time for a practice kiss), Luke looked grumpy even after he pulled away from his wife to be.

"Okay, everyone! Drinks are in the house. Which is air-conditioned!" Lorelai hollered. "Punch for those under twenty-one and adult punch for those who need to forget just how warm it is out here."

"You could have told me you weren't wearing your wedding clothes," Luke grumbled into Lorelai's ear, but he grumbled loud enough that Jess could clearly hear him.

"Yeah! Thanks for that, _Mom_," Rory hissed the last word. "I never knew betrayal could cut so deep."

"It was a last minute thing. My rehearsal dress wasn't as flattering as I remembered it being," Lorelai smiled, extending the bag of chips to her mother as Emily approached, looking absolutely livid. "Chip, Mom? They're Lay's. Not even the knock off brand. No expense spared!"

"Lorelai, I haven't the faintest idea why you would tell me to invite some of my friends to this rehearsal and then utterly embarrass me by parading down the aisle in something you must have picked out of the _Dukes of Hazzard _prop closet," Emily said, scowling and putting a hand to her carefully coifed hair. "I can only hope your terrible attire does not make a second appearance tomorrow for the actual ceremony."

"Mom," Lorelai said, sounding like she had carefully rehearsed this speech for a while. "It was not my intention to embarrass you. It was my intention to be comfortable in this hot weather before I have to stuff myself into a wedding dress for hours and hours tomorrow. I was not thinking about you or your friends."

"That's apparent," Emily huffed. "You were only thinking about yourself."

"Uh," Luke finally spoke up, looking awkward as he started to extend a hand to Emily and then took it back as it became clear she was not going to shake it. "Hello, Emily. Mrs. Gilmore. Emily?"

"Yes, hello, Luke," she said and then her eyes settled on Jess.

"Uh, hi, Grandma," Rory said, giving a little wave and stepping next to Jess. "You remember Jess."

"Oh, yes, it was hard to recognize you without the black eye and the sullen attitude," Emily said. Jess scowled slightly. "_There _it is. Lorelai, where is the rest of your wedding party? Does nobody know how to show up to a rehearsal?"

"I told them to not worry about it if they had other things to do, Mom. It's a simple ceremony. Walk up here, get married, and then drink and eat until we can't move," Lorelai explained. "Caesar is running the diner, Michel is running the inn, Sookie and her family are just plain _running _and trying to get things fixed up and Lane is–"

"You cannot expect me to remember who half of these people are," Emily said, then moved closer to the chuppah to examine it. "Are you _sure _this thing is stable? We can have your father look at it, he's just over there talking to the-"

"The _Moneyburgs_," Rory exclaimed, nudging Jess with her elbow. "Goldie and… Gold?"

"The Moneyburgs? What are you talking about, Rory?" Emily turned, shielding her eyes from the sun and squinting. "Those are the von Wyatts. Billie and George."

"The Moneyburgs must be inside, then," Jess said, nudging Rory right back. "I haven't seen them in forever. Should we go say hello to them?"

"You two better not abandon me here," Lorelai warned.

Rory smiled, grabbing Jess' arm and beginning to pull him away. "We're not abandoning you, Mom! We'd never do that to you, _especially_ after you offered to let us wear more casual clothes to the ceremony. We just haven't seen the Moneyburgs since the Prada show and we must say hello to them if we want to be invited to their _divine _summer parties in Maine."

"Oh, _those _Moneyburgs! I remember them. I should come say hello, too," Lorelai said. She began to walk to join her daughter and Jess, but Luke grabbed her hand with his.

"Nope, we can catch up with the Moneyburgs later," Luke said, pulling Lorelai close and wrapping an arm around her waist. "Say hello to them for us, guys, while we stay out here and talk to Emily and Richard."

Rory and Jess high-tailed it to the house, dodging old relatives throughout the yard and in the living room. "Upstairs?" Jess suggested after Rory was hugged by a very odd-smelling old aunt of hers.

"Upstairs," Rory agreed. The made it halfway up the stairs before Rory stopped suddenly. Jess ran into her back, sending her stumbling. He grabbed her waist to steady her and prevent her from face-planting into the stairs, then let go once she had regained her composure. "We forgot to get some punch."

"I'll grab the punch, you go to your mom's room and barricade it," Jess ordered, grinning.

"Right! The secret knock will be the opening notes of "Seven Nation Army." Don't forget," she said, returning his smile as she disappeared up the stairs.

Jess retrieved a gallon jug of punch from the fridge, deciding against taking the time to find cups. More people were filing into the air-conditioned house every second he spent in the kitchen and he didn't want to risk being stopped on his way upstairs to Rory.

It was only when he was standing in front of Lorelai's bedroom door with his punch jug in hand did something occur to Jess. "Rory, how am I supposed to knock to the tune of a song?" Jess asked, feeling like face palming himself. "I can't knock in higher or lower notes."

The door was opened quickly and Rory pulled him inside by the sleeve of his jacket. "Yeah, I thought about that once I was up here," she admitted, locking the door behind him.

Jess looked at Lorelai's bed and briefly considered sitting down on it, before he made a face and instead sat cross legged on the floor next to it.

"What?" Rory asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat next to him, kicking off her high heels.

"It's just… weird," he said, pulling off his own shoes and offering the jug of punch to Rory. "It's Luke's bed. With Lorelai."

"It's okay. I'm pretty sure my mom is a virgin, Jess," Rory said, taking a swig of the punch. She made a face. "Whoa, this tastes like the Founder's Day punch."

Rory passed the jug to him. Jess swallowed a mouthful and then exhaled. He had a feeling his exhale could be lit on fire. "This tastes like pure vodka."

"It pretty much is," she confirmed, then twisted around. She pulled her long hair over her shoulder and he pulled her zipper down smoothly. "Thanks. I'm gonna steal some of my mom's sweats. Do you want me to find you something of Luke's?"

"Ah, no," Jess said, turning his eyes to the small television that was sitting on a table in front of their spot on the floor. "Hey, does this thing work? Do you want to watch something while we wait for the house to clear out?"

"Uhm, yes and yes," Rory said, disappearing into her mom's bathroom for a second. She raised her voice to speak through the closed door. "There are movies in the shoebox underneath the bed. Pick something good!"

"Will do," he muttered, pulling a dusty box out from beneath Lorelai's bed. He removed the lid and glanced over the titles. There was a mix of VHS tapes and DVDs, but all of them screamed _Lorelai_.

His eyes skimmed over a collection of home movies labeled with Sharpie pen and tape and settled on one in particular: _Rory's Graduation. _"Chilton?" he asked himself under his breath, pulling the tape from the shelf. Unlike some of the others, it was not labeled with Sharpie and instead looked mass produced. The box looked professionally designed and the back even had a synopsis and the names of the valedictorian and salutatorian in bold. "Chilton."

He pulled the tape from the box, popping it into the VCR and poking the power button on the small TV. A voice over began talking about the prep school, noting its alumni and the fact that it had recently celebrated its bicentennial.

Jess unbuttoned his shirt a few inches and tugging on his collar uncomfortably before rolling up his sleeves to his elbows. Some old men began to talk before the ceremony and Jess couldn't care less and wasn't really sure who they were, but every once in a while the camera panned over the small crowd of graduating students and he caught sight of Rory.

He smiled.

The bathroom door opened and Rory emerged, wearing gray and blue Yale sweatpants and a blue Yale tank top. "You know, I think these are actually _mine_," Rory said, tugging on the pants as she crossed the room to join Jess in front of the TV. "I'm pretty sure she stole these from me and – hey."

Jess turned toward her, raising an eyebrow as he paused the TV. "Hey what?" he asked. Rory's eyes were glued to the TV screen and she had a finger pointed to the graduation ceremony.

"Is that – is that _Chilton_?"

"Yep," he said, taking another drink of the punch. It burned on the way down.

"You're watching my graduation?" she asked, crossing her legs as she sat.

"Yep."

"_Why?_" she asked with a laugh. "It's so boring. _I_ was bored and I was the valedictorian."

"I wanted to see it," he said with a shrug, offering her the punch jug. "You were not _bored, _Rory, don't lie. You loved every minute of it."

She looked sheepish and a little embarrassed as he hit the play button. "Okay, fine. I loved every minute of it."

"Admitting it is the first step. Now, shush, I'm watching this."

They sat comfortably as the ceremony went on. Jess and Rory passed the punch jug between them and Rory occasionally pointed out classmates she had particularly liked or disliked. "She _hated_ me and one time she even pulled me into a bathroom to try and intimidate me as her friends stood by with their arms crossed."

Jess laughed. "_Her? _I can't believe they pulled you into a_ bathroom_. Was she planning to make it like a cliché eighties teen movie or did that part of the supposed intimidation just happen by accident?"

"I think it was planned. She planned _everything_," Rory laughed for a moment. "She had me meet her in a parking garage and then had someone take pictures of it so she could use them to frame me for blackmailing later."

"Are you sure you went to a real school and not some kind of social experiment?"

"Looking back, I'm pretty sure it was a social experiment," she said thoughtfully, taking another swig of the punch. "I was also kidnapped in the middle of the night to become a member of a secret society called the Puffs."

Jess laughed. "What, was 'the Bunnies' taken?"

"The Bunnies would have been better," Rory admitted. "They could have put a Monty Python spin on it and seemed a little bit more intimidating."

He grinned, turning his attention back to the momentarily forgotten graduation ceremony. It was nearly over now. The graduates had all walked and returned to their seats and it looked like they had been released from the ceremony, since they were standing to unite with their family members.

"So, that was it?" Jess asked, sipping the punch.

"That was it. Pretty thrilling. I bet you're glad that you missed it now."

He nudged her knee with his and his voice got lower. "I still wish I had been there, Rory. And not just at the ceremony. _There_ in general."

"I know," she assured him, her hand on his knee. "But it's okay. Really. We're both different people now and we just have to… let go of past stuff. Now, shut up, because we already did the thing where we acknowledge the awkward things and make way for the better things."

He smiled. "Alright, so… graduation video is over. Now what?"

Rory stood suddenly and quietly opened the bedroom door. She listened for a few minutes and then shut it again, returning to her spot next to Jess. "I still hear people. And not just the people I know and like, but the people I haven't seen since I was two and they'll all insist on telling me how much I've grown and _blah blah blah_. I'd rather put that off until tomorrow at the actual wedding."

"Okay, then," Jess gestured to the half-empty jug. "We do have a bottle. We could play spin the bottle."

Rory rolled her eyes. "The results would be too predictable. How about truth or dare?"

"I'm not playing truth or dare, Rory."

"Why?" she questioned, intentionally letting her voice become a little whiny.

"I'm not fourteen, that's why," he said. She let her bottom lip slip into an over-exaggerated pout and he laughed at her. "_No._"

"Come on! _Please_."

"Fine," Jess said with a sigh, opening the punch jug and taking a good long drink of it. "You go first, then. And you don't get to change your mind if you don't like any answers or questions."

"So many conditions," Rory teased, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them. She looked weirdly excited with her pink cheeks and glassy eyes, but that might have just been the punch jug finally taking effect. "Truth or dare, Jess?"

"Truth," he said. It seemed easier than trying to get up and do a dare when he was becoming buzzed.

"Are you happy with your life?"

"Coming out with the serious stuff already, huh?"

"I don't mess around with favorite colors or movies."

"I'm not jumping over the moon with elation or anything, but yeah," he took a drink of the punch, then grimaced. It was starting to taste too much like vodka and not enough like punch. "I'm content. Truth or dare."

"Truth!"

He thought about it for a moment. "What's the worst thing you've ever done?"

"In the eyes of the law? I stole a yacht," Rory proclaimed, sounding oddly proud of it.

"You _stole _a – _what_?"

"Yep. A yacht. A boat thing," she confirmed, nodding enthusiastically as she took the jug from him and took another drink. "I was upset about something and I was feeling reckless and… that's basically it."

"What upset you enough to steal a boat?" Jess asked incredulously. "Did someone try to assassinate you? Did they insinuate that the Brontë sisters were plagiarists?"

"Uhh, someone told me that I wouldn't make a good journalist."

"And you _believed _them?"

"They were pretty important, so yeah," she sighed, rubbing her temple for a moment. "They seemed pretty important at the time, at least. Now I kind of hate them and couldn't care less about their shitty opinions."

"That's stupid," Jess said flatly. "To steal a yacht because some tool didn't know what the hell he was talking about."

"It was," she agreed, frowning slightly. Rory pressed her face against her knees for a second, before looking over at him. "Plus, the yacht thing ended up giving me a record and three hundred community service hours."

"You have a record? Even _I _don't have a record. Jesus, Rory."

"I don't have a record _now_," she clarified. "They said I could petition to get it expunged from my record and I did so… it never happened. Anyway, it's my turn now. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to…" Rory looked around the room awkwardly, trying to come up with a good dare. "I don't know. Try to lick your elbow. That's always entertaining to watch."

Jess sighed, rolling his eyes and completely ignoring her dare. "Truth or dare, Rory?"

She made a face at him ignoring her dare, but said nothing about it. "Truth."

"Guilty pleasures?" he asked, inspired by the row of Barry Manilow CDs Lorelai had arranged on a shelf nearby.

"Zydeco music, re-reading Nancy Drew books, and… I feel like there's another one but I can't think of it. Truth or dare?"

"Truth, since you suck at coming up with dares," Jess grinned even as Rory looked fake-offended.

She sat for a second, clearly trying to come up with a good question. Rory chewed on her lip for a second and Jess knew it must be a tough or awkward question, otherwise she wouldn't look so nervous.

"Just ask, Rory," he said softly.

"Uhm, so, any… ladies in your life?"

He smiled slightly. "Technically there are, but only because I see them at work or they're my neighbors in my new apartment building. Otherwise… no, no ladies. No _lady. _No girlfriend, if that's what you wanted to know. Truth or dare, Rory?"

"Truth. Of course. Perpetually truth."

"You still with that Logan tool?"

"No. No, nope," Rory said quickly, reaching for the punch jug again. "I burned that bridge a while ago. Years ago, in fact."

"What a shame," Jess said flatly, his grin betraying his feelings. "He seemed like such a charming individual when I met him."

"He was," Rory agreed in the same sarcastic and flat tone. They both laughed at the same time and she pressed her face into her knees again.

"So… not with Logan."

"No. Not with Logan."

"Are you with anybody else?"

"Nobody else," Rory shook her head slightly.

"So… you wanna be with me?"


End file.
